


Seto still has Issues and Joey has grown up a little

by Heosic24



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 07:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5576725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heosic24/pseuds/Heosic24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, all it needs is time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seto still has Issues and Joey has grown up a little

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-slash

Sometimes, all it needs is time.

Because maybe Joey isn’t successful, and works two jobs to make ends meet, but his dad is finally out of the picture and he has a place to call his own.

And his sister is doing well in university and calls him every week, and his friends are piecing their lives back together just like he is. They can’t hang out like they used to, but occasionally Duke will invite the gang over and they’ll play card games and reminisce about their adventures.

Kaiba is busy facilitating the plans for his dueling academy. He’s still arrogant and impatient, but also smarter and more calculating– these days, he knows better than to blindly trust his business partners. He has three backups for each member of the board, and keeps tabs on their correspondence–fuck legality, he’s Seto Kaiba. But after the meetings are done, and the only person waiting for him at home is Mokuba, sometimes his mansion feels a little large. And Mokuba’s not a snotty little brat who scares his peers away with money and posturing anymore. He’s an awkward teenager finally succeeding at making friends rather than minions, and who’ll stay out late and have sleepovers (always with security lurking in the shadows, of course- Kaiba’s not stupid). All the things normal boys do that Seto never had time for. 

He gets the emails from Duke, but never goes—it’s not that he doesn’t appreciate what Yugi Moto and his band of misfits did for him back then, but he’s repaid those debts many times over. Why hold onto the past when the future is right in front of his eyes? He’s not a child anymore—he doesn’t need them, especially not the way they seem to need each other.

He has residences all over the world, but none of them feel like home. He still can’t bring himself to sell the house he inherited from his “father”. There are too many memories, most of them bad, but they remind him that he is strong. He survived, and the house is a testament to all of his strengths as well as his weaknesses. In those weaker moments, he wonders if he’s okay having his life revolve around technology and towering skyscrapers—what is Seto Kaiba, besides a prodigy of industrialism and card-game technology? Mokuba wouldn’t be around forever; he’d go to college, eventually. Find someone to settle down with and move out to make a family of his own.

And then Seto would be alone, again. But he’d leave behind a legacy anyone would be envious of: wasn’t that enough?

And one day Wheeler appears again, still scruffy but definitely not the lanky teen Kaiba remembers. He jokes that Kaiba must have invented an anti-aging serum because he hasn’t changed a bit, and Kaiba almost rolls his eyes—Wheeler might have aged, but he kept his high-school sense of humor. He also shows he hasn’t changed when he invades Kaiba’s space by plopping next to him on the bench like they’re friends or something.

“Th’ world must be ending if Seto Kaiba’s takin’ public transportation. What, ya driver call-in sick? Ya run outta fiddies for a tip?”

“Contrary to popular belief, Wheeler, I am capable of doing normal things like riding a train”

He’d be irritated, but even he can tell a joke (if a stupid one) from something malicious. Instead of sniping back like Kaiba expects, Wheeler just laughs and holds his hands up.

“Sure sure, guess ya still eat and breathe and shit like th’ rest of us. So what have ya been up to? Duke says he keep sendin’ ya th’ emails, but ya never come. What, still too good for us peasants? Even after all th’ reincarnation and time travel? Jeez, man.”

And now he should leave, train be damned, because he doesn’t owe anybody answers for his absence, least of all Joey fucking Wheeler. Sadly, his glare gives him away before he can get up and Joey winces.

“Daaaaah fuck, I didn’t mean to—we always do this, don’t we? I get mad, ya get mad, we both get mad and—wait here just a sec, okay? C’mon don’t give me that look. We can act like adults for once, can’t we?”

And something is definitely wrong with the world if WHEELER is saying they should act like adults. But on second thought, storming off in a huff because someone dared ask about his life did seem rather…childish. So he stays and settles for crossing his arms as Wheeler disappears somewhere. When was the last time he’d talked to someone his own age? Not since he’d last parted ways with Moto’s gang, really.

“Ya gonna melt the tracks with- right, adults. Actin’ like adults.”

Joey hands him a hot can of coffee before settling down with his own. Kaiba doesn’t sigh and opens it, resigning himself to more of Wheeler’s asinine questions, but they don’t come. Instead, Wheeler starts telling him about what he and others have been up to the past couple of years. That he doesn’t mind—it’s been nagging at him, and it would have been simple to get information on them all, but he never found the time or motivation. So he settles back and sips his coffee, and it barely registers when the train rolls into the station.

“Whup, ya ride’s here.”

“Yeah”

Kaiba stands, and it’s awkward until Joey gets up as well and holds out his hand, a gesture a businessman like Kaiba has no hesitation in returning. Wheeler’s grip is easy and relaxed, not tight and fierce like he’d expected.

“Nice seein’ ya gain, Kaiba. Never thought I’d say that, but… yeah, it was. Anyway. Seeya around, if ya stick to regular-people transportation and all”

“It was nice seeing you too” he doesn’t say, but instead nods and boards the train right before the door closes. He fights the sudden urge to watch Wheeler’s back disappear into the crowd.


End file.
